Overall Rating	Gold
Overall Score	75.88
Liaison	Deborah Steinberg
Submission Date	Dec. 17, 2024

STARS v2.2

Carnegie Mellon University
OP-21: Water Use

Status

Score

Responsible Party

4.00 / 4.00

Steve Guenther
University Engineer and Assistant Vice President of Facilities Management and Campus Services
Facilities Management Services

"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Level of ”Physical Risk Quantity” for the institution’s main campus as indicated by the World Resources Institute Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas:

Low to Medium

Part 1. Reduction in potable water use per person

Total water withdrawal (potable and non-potable combined):

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal	63,147,867.50 Gallons	123,907,000 Gallons

Potable water use:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use	62,638,000 Gallons	123,907,000 Gallons

Start and end dates of the performance year and baseline year (or three-year periods):

	Start Date	End Date
Performance Period	July 1, 2023	June 30, 2024
Baseline Period	July 1, 2004	June 30, 2005

If end date of the baseline year/period is 2004 or earlier, provide:

A brief description of when and why the water use baseline was adopted:

FY 2005 was selected to be consistent with earlier STARS reporting Baseline year.

Figures needed to determine "Weighted Campus Users":

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Number of students resident on-site	3,779	3,744
Number of employees resident on-site	26	0
Number of other individuals resident on-site	0	0
Total full-time equivalent student enrollment	14,156.20	8,894
Full-time equivalent of employees	5,350.40	4,032
Full-time equivalent of students enrolled exclusively in distance education	438.20	106.50
Weighted campus users	15,252.55	10,550.63

Potable water use per weighted campus user:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per weighted campus user	4,106.72 Gallons	11,744.04 Gallons

Percentage reduction in potable water use per weighted campus user from baseline:

65.03

Part 2. Reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area

Gross floor area of building space:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Gross floor area	6,239,158 Gross square feet	5,391,617 Gross square feet

Potable water use per unit of floor area:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Potable water use per unit of floor area	10.04 Gallons per square foot	22.98 Gallons per square foot

Percentage reduction in potable water use per unit of floor area from baseline:

56.31

Part 3. Reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds

Area of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Vegetated grounds	48.62 Acres	55 Acres

Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds:

	Performance Year	Baseline Year
Total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds	1,298,804.35 Gallons per acre	2,252,854.55 Gallons per acre

Percentage reduction in total water withdrawal per unit of vegetated grounds from baseline:

42.35

Optional Fields

A brief description of the institution's water-related behavior change initiatives:

To date, the university has focused on widespread installation of presence-sensing devices, flow controllers, and low-flow fixtures and fittings within buildings to reduce water consumption. As an integrated environmental strategy, we have also replaced many standard water fountains with water-refill stations in order to reduce the impact of bottled water use.

A brief description of the institution's water recovery and reuse initiatives:

In 2016, CMU installed 275,000 gallons of rainwater collection and storage capacity below grade in the center of campus. Downspouts from surrounding buildings (Baker, Porter & Doherty Halls) feed the storage tanks. Collected water can be routed to the chiller plant for cooling tower make-up and can also serve our limited irrigation needs.

Our Gates Hillman Computer Science Complex has a 10,000-gallon rainwater collection tank within the building. That water is used for flushing building toilets. Vegetated swales and tree plantings on hillside where that building is situated slow water flow.

The Collaborative Innovation Center (CIC) has a 6,000-gallon rainwater storage tank to supply toilets & irrigation.

Purnell Center for the Arts has a 10,000-gallon underground baffled stormwater cistern to slow water flow.

The Tepper Quad collects rain water from the building roof and grounds to a 150,000 gallon cistern located in the building for use as the water for toilet flushing.

A brief description of the institution's initiatives to replace plumbing fixtures, fittings, appliances, equipment, and systems with water-efficient alternatives:

Low and ultra-low urinals are used for all new construction and renovations. Other high efficiency fixtures such as touchless faucets are also used.

Website URL where information about the institution’s water conservation and efficiency efforts is available:

https://www.cmu.edu/environment/energy-water/

Additional documentation to support the submission:

---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:

---